[Evergreen-catalogers] How to explain the display of "empty records"?

Tue Oct 4 14:55:57 EDT 2022

I've just posted a wishlist ticket on LP, if anyone wants to add some heat.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1991708

Whatever the code does to keep them from displaying in the public catalog
would be useful in the "searching just my library" in the staff catalog.
It's usually circ and reference staff that runs into these and send
complaints to us.

Mary

On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 2:53 PM Sarah Childs <sarahc at hmmpl.org> wrote:

> I would be interested to know if anyone does find this "feature" useful. I
> usually explain it by saying bib records that belong to noone belong to
> everyone. I would definitely prefer it if these only turned up in searches
> scoped to the entire consortium.
>
> On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 2:36 PM Mary Llewellyn via Evergreen-catalogers <
> evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi Erica,
>>
>> In our case, none of the reported bibs has an 856. These are records we
>> loaded at the request of another library, in which they haven't gotten
>> around to adding their own items.
>>
>> When we first migrated to Evergreen, the empty bibs were colored in gray,
>> and that caused no end of complaints. We were relieved when the coloring
>> was turned off. It drew less attention to the empty bibs and people calmed
>> down.
>>
>> Our public services staff aren't looking to do any cataloging, so seeing
>> the empty bibs, colored in or not, is not helpful to them. Our acq staff
>> members are adding an "on order" copy to the records when they activate
>> their purchase orders, so there's no need from them to place holds on empty
>> bibs. Their display in a library-based search instead of CONS serves no
>> useful purpose to us.
>>
>> I don't know if there's been an influx of new staff first running into
>> these, or if the angular catalog is making them more prominent, displaying
>> them at the top of search results, but I need to write up an FAQ for our
>> librarians that I can point at every time we get another complaint. I'd
>> like to say something more detailed than "it's a feature, not a bug."
>>
>> Mary
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 2:17 PM Erica Rohlfs <erica.rohlfs at equinoxoli.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Mary,
>>>
>>> I don't know if I can be of much help. I see that you're already aware
>>> of Wish List - Add color coding when there are no holdings
>>> <https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/1966342> so I'm just listing
>>> it here for others who are following the discussion. I agree with Elaine
>>> that having the empty bib records, a.k.a. shadowed records color coded was
>>> once a very helpful feature. I also agree that some mechanism to filter out
>>> the truly empty bibs would be a good feature, too. Some of the confusion
>>> also stems from the fact that, if there is an associated 856 subfield 9 on
>>> the record, it's not considered empty. This is one of the factors that
>>> consortia consider when removing the e-resources from the catalog (only one
>>> factor, I know there are many others). Some libraries do filter on Group
>>> Formats/Editions to consolidate results, where possible. But, this doesn't
>>> answer the question of why the records show up in the results :-) You've
>>> noted that there are catalogers' considerations for retrieving empty bibs.
>>> Really, the only circulation reason that stands out in my mind is that,
>>> with the permission to override HIGH_LEVEL_HOLD_HAS_NO_COPIES, staff
>>> can place holds on empty bibs. I don't know how many use cases there are
>>> for it, maybe Acquisitions and Collections Librarians in the community have
>>> specific use cases. I'd love to learn more about them.
>>>
>>> Thank You,
>>> Erica
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Oct 4, 2022 at 1:27 PM Mary Llewellyn via Evergreen-catalogers <
>>> evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I could use some advice.
>>>>
>>>> We have our catalogers use CONS as their search library so they can
>>>> find all records, with and without items, when they need to catalog their
>>>> own items.
>>>>
>>>> However, the public services staff use their own library as a search
>>>> library, and that's where we run into staff confusion.
>>>>
>>>> When they run into a bib record with no items, they report that to us
>>>> as an error.
>>>> When they are searching in their own library, they expect to only
>>>> retrieve records with their items.
>>>>
>>>> I'm trying to come up with a succinct explanation for why they see
>>>> those records. I do assure them that their public does not see the "empty"
>>>> records, that they only appear in the staff catalog. Can someone share with
>>>> me the official reason for why these records display?
>>>>
>>>> I wish there were some way to prevent them from coming up in their
>>>> searches.
>>>> --
>>>> Mary Llewellyn
>>>> Database Manager
>>>> Bibliomation, Inc.
>>>> 24 Wooster Ave.
>>>> Waterbury, CT 06708
>>>> mllewell at biblio.org
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Evergreen-catalogers mailing list
>>>> Evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org
>>>>
>>>> http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-catalogers
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Erica Rohlfs, MLIS, PMP
>>> Senior Implementation Project Manager
>>> Equinox Open Library Initiative
>>> erica.rohlfs at equinoxOLI.org
>>> https://equinoxOLI.org
>>> phone: 877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>>> direct: 770-709-5572
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mary Llewellyn
>> Database Manager
>> Bibliomation, Inc.
>> 24 Wooster Ave.
>> Waterbury, CT 06708
>> mllewell at biblio.org
>> _______________________________________________
>> Evergreen-catalogers mailing list
>> Evergreen-catalogers at list.evergreen-ils.org
>>
>> http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/evergreen-catalogers
>>
>
>
> --
> Sarah Childs (pronouns: she/her)
> Technical Services Department Head
> Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library
> 250 North Fifth Street
> Zionsville, IN 46077
> 317-873-3149 x13330
> sarahc at hmmpl.org
>

-- 
Mary Llewellyn
Database Manager
Bibliomation, Inc.
24 Wooster Ave.
Waterbury, CT 06708
mllewell at biblio.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.evergreen-ils.org/pipermail/evergreen-catalogers/attachments/20221004/f5c95649/attachment-0001.htm>